Asrthiel, once Astriel, granddaughter of the Stormlord of Ellenhall, has come of age and received her title of weathermage. As she sets out into the world, her happiness is marred only by her inability to wake her mother from the enchanted sleep that holds her captive, and by curious visits from a perverse, yet intriguing, faerie-creature. But rumblings of discontent have begun to circulate in the Four Kingdoms of Tir: the bandits known as the Marauders are attacking the populace with greater frequency, and taxes are being raised to fund the defence against them. Then the people begin, seemingly unprovoked, to turn against the weathermasters, whom they have always held in such high esteem...

Author Biography

A graduate of Monash University with a degree in sociology, Cecilia Dart-Thornton is the author of the internationally acclaimed Bitterbynde Trilogy and the Crowthistle Chronicles. Her interests include animal rights, wilderness conservation and digital media. She lives with her family in Australia.